Christmas Journal & More

So for all of you visiting from the Journal Your Christmas site here are

some of my finished pages and the front....

And for everyone else....here are some of the crafts I mentioned....

I made 6 little house ornaments....

and my snowballs that I made to go with my

lady snowman!! I have had

a blast crafting this christmas.....

!

Our December.................

December is here, and with it brings busyness along with

many wonderful family moments....if you take the time

out of your schedule to enjoy them.

We are doing an advent calendar this year that has

coupons in it.....different activities for each day.

Above is one of the activities....enjoy Red Velvet Hot

Chocolate with Cream Cheese Whipped Topping.

The elf came to our house this year. He

has been popping up in different places throughout this

month.

Above: My new decorations I made....
I've been busy making a lot of things this year...
Christmas cards, snowballs, Christmas
Journal, paper mache houses, etc.
Maybe I will get them posted sometime.....
Hummmmmm

My SIL's and I had our annual cookie bake....
we made around 267 dozen cookies -
Anyone know exactly how many cookies that is?

Alyssa was determined to get herself a real
Christmas tree for her hous....she is all bunded up in snow gear
---I think she thinks it is cold outside!


Mifflinburg Christkindle Market.....we went the first evening....
lots of FOOD!!!!!!

And then another Advent activity....they made "snowflakes"

for lunch. Just tortilla shells (the kids cut them)

we fry and load em with powdered sugar....they

love em.

I have determined this Christmas season to make sure I

take time with my family and enjoy....

it is just too easy to get stressed during the holidays.

So far.....I think I'm doing okay.

From our Home to Yours We Wish You All A

Blessed Christmas and A Christ Filled

New Year!

Gathering Supplies for my "Journal Your Christmas Album"

Well, a big part of creating is gathering and organization. I have discoverd

that old muffin tins and jello molds help me organize and

are so cute!

My bin full of products that I will be using for my JYC album

My protfolio ablum from Pink Paislee that I will be using --

now the fun begins....decorating the front!!!!

My inside pages are all different sizes, the album comes with divided pockets, 8.5 x 11 pages, 5x7 pages and pocked with folds....I also will be adding page flaps and additional pages...

probably a few paper, glassine and striped bags from here.
There are small bags to use for little things I want to save and larger sized ones

that I could actually use for a page or to hold receipts from shopping, grocery lists,

gift cards and such (since I love to keep all of that, it is so fun to look back

and see those things!)

Christmas has begun

Christmas has begun at our house.....I've started gathering items to create with....

above are the tags that I created for my Journal your Christmas album.

I enjoyed creating these and though I tried to stick with the same idea, using the same punches

and papers, each tag is a little different.

(I used the girls' paperie tinsel & twig paper, did some machine stitching...glimmer mist,

inking and a lot of odds and ends.)

I'm also collecting items for homemade ornaments. (it is tradition

around here for the kids to get a new ornament each year....but this year we

are creating them ourselves) Other things I've been busy with for Christmas....

our advent calendar....gathering supplies for more crafts, albums and we have the

neighbors handmade gifts finished just gotta get tags made up. Oh, and we can't forget homemade Christmas cards and Sunday School Christmas program.

I must say that this year we are having more of a homemade

holiday than a store bought holiday.

So looking forward to the homemade part.

Sweet 16 -- Shalene!

Shalene is turning 16 at the end of this month! WOW, its hard to

believe. She wanted to do a bonfire so, since I DO NOT enjoy

being cold we had the party at the beginning of the month.

Steve kept the fire going all evening for us...keeping the soup

and spiced cider hot for us.

We had pumpkin carving....which they all seemed to enjoy....
many different creations. Above is one that Alyssa
created.

Here we have our smore's bar....apple cider, vanilla bean, mexican hot choc., butter

pecan, raspberry, gingerbread and more flavored homemade marshmellows.

3 types of grahams and tons of different chocolate along with

toasted coconut, toasted almonds and carmel for the toppings!!!

Though it was a chilling evening, the fire and hot spiced cider kept us warm...

with lots of good fun, friends and fun.....we celebrated the birthday of a wonderful

young lady whom I'm very proud of.

Pumpkin Carving

It's been a real long time since the kids carved pumpkins.

Lyssa found a pumpkin that she wanted to "copy" when she was looking

on pintrest.....so she attempted it. Clayton got in on the action as well.

Look of concentration!

Claytons creation

Lyssa's creation - sorry the p ic is blurred but you can see how the vine

and flowers are....so cute

Spangler Reunion

We had the Spangler Reunion last weekend. Grandma is turning 95 this month

and she has been hoping that we would all be able to attend.

Below is my Uncle Don telling the kids a story. We had hiked up to the

mountaing to see the view of Lancaster and while up ther he decided to

tell the kids a story.

Mom standing on top of the mountain....what a hike that

was.

Grandma Spangler and I.......she has been such

a light to me.....God has given her a wonderul life.

We were celebrating Dad's birthday -- late -- since I hadn't gotten to see him....

Grandma decided to get in on the party!

Summer Update

Yes, we are still here....our summer has been full of many things. And wonderful memories.

One bittersweet moment was that Alyssa has ventured off on her own for awhile. She has

a small little cottage in Harrisburg. Now working with Dementia patients while attending school

for nursing. Her little cottage is about thesize of those at Penn View. Perfect for just one person and shehas settled in well.

Shalene and Steve ventured off on the church missions trip this year, and in short...our summer has simply been packed with lots. Here are a few things we filled our summer with.

(OK Renea D. I hope this post makes you happy!)

I have canned several types of pickles, beans, dilly beans, sauce, pears, hot pepper mustard dip,

peach salsa, pear pinapple jelly, grape jelly, grape butter, grape juice, Pear

carmel sauce and more. We are now drying apples and gonna make applesauce.

This has taken up a lot of our time but it sure tastes wonderful.

We attended the corn festival this summer....I think we ate more than

we did anything else.


Thai food has been top on our list as well. There is a little concession stand who
sets up at the park in Lewisburg one day a week.....she makes the best!!!

Bella had to get a hair cut...she was cold on the way home so she hid

behind Clayton to stay warm. Afterall....I must have my air condition on.

Steve and I celebrated our anniversary but going up to a cabin in the

mountains. Steve ended up doing some fishing and we were able

to see wildlife....me I just enjoyed the "quiet"

And of coarse, I HAD to go to scrapbook convention this year

with Sue and Chris. So here they are working

on some projects in the hotel room. We stayed up late

trying to get some things accomplished AFTER we shopped and attended

classes all day. Of coarse, we had to go to the Cheesecake Factory and other wonderful

places for food while we were there.